Jeremy's Realization
by WondaGal
Summary: Companion piece to Kindness and Compassion. Jeremy comes to terms with himself and realizes some things about himself and the Salvatore family. Read and Review.


AN: Companion piece to Kindness and Compassion because Jeremy wasn't mentioned a lot, so this piece will be centered around him.

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(Jeremy-POV)

The week of death rolled around again. It was the week I lost everyone I loved. Well, everyone except Elena.

I didn't want to be around the Salvatores because I didn't want my nieces and nephew to see my grief.

I was out walking in the town square, when I heard a voice.

"Jeremy!" the voice called. I turned around and saw Rosalie. She walked over to me and smiled sincerely. "Why don't you come over tonight and bond with your nieces and nephew. Mother will be home, but the rest of us have to go a memorial that's being put into place by the mayor, so we won't be home until later," Rosalie told me.

"Sure, I'll do it," I replied.

Rosalie smiled and told me to come by around six.

That night I knocked on the boarding house door and Katherine opened it.

"Hi Jeremy, come on in, the kids are just having dinner," she told me.

I went into the dining room and found my little nieces and nephews stuffing their faces full of food.

I went into the kitchen and found Elena and Rosalie chatting away, while they cleaned the kitchen. I saw Damon take a dish out of Elena's hand and put it away after giving her a kiss on the cheek. I had to smile. My sister had gotten the life that she always dreamed of. She got two amazing older sisters, another younger brother, an older brother, a loving husband, adorable nieces and nephews, and four beautiful children.

Elena noticed me in the doorway and put down a cloth. She hugged me and I kissed her forehead.

"Hi Jer," she greeted me, "I'm so glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you too, Elena," I replied.

"Where's Mother?" Katherine asked as she slipped on a bracelet.

"Right here, dear," I heard a new voice say. A woman appeared.

"Jer, this is Damon, Rosalie, and Stefan's Mother, Celestine," Elena told me, "Mother this is my brother, Jeremy."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Hi," I greeted Celestine.

"We'll leave after we finish the dishes," Rosalie told Celestine.

"I can handle it, darling," Celestine replied, "Go out and don't worry about anything."

"Just in case all the numbers are on the fridge, so if you need us, don't hesitate to call," Elena, Rosalie, and Katherine said in unison.

"Girls, we'll be fine. Now, go to the mayor's memorial," Celestine replied, "Boys, if you please."

Jasper and Stefan appeared and along Damon, they coaxed their wives out of the house and into the SUV outside.

I heard the car drive off and turned around to find Celestine holding Lilith in her arms.

"It's a good thing you're here, I'm usually able to handle them all by myself, but it's nice to have an extra set of hands," Celestine told me.

"I'm surprised Elena let me stay to look after them," I admitted.

My nieces and nephews were all on the floor playing now.

"Why is that?" Celestine asked.

"Because I was never good with kids," I replied.

"We all make mistakes. These things are learned, Jeremy."

"It seems to come naturally to all of you."

"We've all had practice."

I spotted a photo of the Salvatore family at Damon and Elena's wedding. In the photo there were four women, Elena (obviously), Rosalie, Katherine…and Violet. I realized that when I entered, Violet didn't tackle me like she always did.

"Where's Violet?" I asked.

Celestine closed her eyes and when she opened them, they looked glassy. That meant that Violet was no more.

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

"Thank you," Celestine replied.

"If you don't mind my asking, how?"

"No one knows, but she, her husband, and daughter were killed by the Blackmore family."

I remained silent.

It was night now and Celestine was clearing the kitchen while I was in the upper hallway of the boarding house. As I walked along, I noticed something. There were portraits everywhere. Damon, Stefan, and Jasper each had a wedding portrait painted with their respective wife. Those portraits hung on the wall above their beds in their respective rooms. Along the wall in the hallway, there were more portraits, some of them were older and had been restored. I took note of the Salvatore family portrait that was painted in 1864 and saw that someone had painted over Giuseppe, not that I was surprised. I then turned my attention to the Salvatore family that was painted in 2012 and noticed that I was in the painting. However, I didn't remember ever posing for a portrait. Who painted these?

"Rosalie was always a fan of fine art," Celestine replied as she walked up behind me.

"_Rosalie_ painted these?" I asked.

"Yes, she did, she also restored some paintings. Every portrait of our family was painted by Rosalie. She painted the wedding portraits as well."

"Wow."

"Come with me. I want to show you something that I think you will find interesting. Don't worry about the children, they've already been tucked into bed."

Celestine led me down the hall and she opened a set of double doors and gestured for me to enter. She followed me in and shut the doors behind us.

I looked around and noticed that the walls were covered with murals and paintings. There were canvases and paints lying on the desks that were against the far wall. Sketchbooks were placed neatly on a shelf.

"This is Rosalie's art studio," Celestine told me, "Follow me."

We walked into the next room and I saw a large grand piano. Sheet music lay on the stand and on a table.

"This piano is Elena and Damon's," Celestine told me, "But I play it as well."

I was surprised. I didn't know Elena could play the piano.

We walked into the next room and I saw a mural of a family tree with photos with name plaques on them. Every Gilbert, Sinclair, and Salvatore that ever existed was on the tree.

"Katherine is fascinated by the camera, so she and Rosalie put this together," Celestine told me as she led me into the next room.

This room wasn't a room at all, in fact it was a long dark hallway lit by candles.

"What is this place?" I asked.

Celestine simply led me down the hall and we entered a room that held a desk and on the desk was a book clasped with a blood red ruby. Celestine took the book off the table and handed it to me.

"This is book contains our history since the beginning. Rosalie and Damon found it and it had already been written in, but there were some empty pages, so we each wrote a chapter. I want you to read it, you may find it interesting. You may find that you can relate to my family more than you believe," Celestine told me.

I went home that night and read the book's first chapter. Celestine was right, the Salvatores has been around since the 1400's. I leafed through the book and found the chapters that the Salvatores that I knew had written. One line stood out from the rest and they had all written it in different places. It puzzled me. The line was:

_Family is everything, be loyal to those in your family, love them, and do your duty to protect them._

Family was everything to the Salvatores. I understood that and I realized that could relate to them. They had each lost loved ones in their eternal lifetimes. I respected them as well. I turned to the final page of the book and found a family tree of the Salvatores, but there were words written next to the names. Leader, Faith, Trust, Heart, Strength, Level-headed, and Loyal. Each of those words represented a Salvatore. Damon was the leader because he was the head of the family. Katherine had faith in her family and was faithful to Stefan. Elena trusted everyone she knew, but she didn't trust blindly. Celestine was the heart of the family, she cared about all of them so dearly. Jasper had strength and not just the physical kind, he was mentally strong as well and made his family that way. Rosalie was the level headed Salvatore, she was the only one, aside from Elena, who could talk Damon out of doing something stupid. Stefan was the loyal Salvatore, he remained with his family through thick and thin.

I realized that the Salvatores had what most people desired more than anything. They had a family that lived in harmony and worked together. I also realized that I could relate more to them than I first thought. The odd thing was, I related to each of them differently. Damon and I had both lost those dear to us. I'd lost many girlfriends and he thought he lost the girl he loved when Elena drowned. Stefan and I had both been touched by darkness, him with his ripper side, and me with my addictions. Rosalie, Jasper, and I were all just trying to protect those we loved. Katherine and I didn't have much in common, but I could relate to how she shut everyone out. Celestine and I both had to watch as our loved ones are hurt. Elena and I trusted someone who back stabbed us later. And even though she died before she wrote her passage, I could relate to Violet, she and I were the youngest sibling, which meant that we were the most protected.

Over all, I realized that the Salvatores and I weren't so different after all.

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AN: Please review. Please.


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